diff --git a/src/datacat_integration/secrets.py b/src/datacat_integration/secrets.py
index 7f389d0e0ef9da1a6ffbd4072fbe154feb125f49..7a590cc5029ef2599327c97411d00fbebbbef3b9 100644
--- a/src/datacat_integration/secrets.py
+++ b/src/datacat_integration/secrets.py
@@ -74,15 +74,19 @@ class DatacatSecretsBackend(BaseSecretsBackend):
 
     # TODO init with datacat elevated login to prevent secrets acces from jobs
 
+    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
+        super().__init__(**kwargs)
+        self.url = kwargs["url"]
+        self.user = kwargs["user"]
+        self.password = kwargs["password"]
+
     def get_connection(self, conn_id: str):
         """returns a Connection object created from the <conenction_type>/<conn_id> object in the datacatalog"""
         # only for testing: check that a specific oid has been requested
         if conn_id != "860355e9-975f-4253-9421-1815e20c879b":
             return None
 
-        
-        hook = DataCatalogHook("datacatalog")
-        secrets_conn = DataCatConnectionWithSecrets(hook.connection.url, hook.connection.user, hook.connection._password)
+        secrets_conn = DataCatConnectionWithSecrets(self.url, self.user, self.password)
         data = secrets_conn.get_object(connection_backend_type, conn_id)
         secrets = secrets_conn.get_all_secret_key_value(connection_backend_type, conn_id)
         conn = get_connection_from_entry(data, secrets, connection_backend_type, conn_id)